The present invention relates to a tape carrier used for a semiconductor device composed of semiconductor elements bonded/mounted onto a flexible wiring substrate called COF (Chip On Film) or TCP (Tape carrier Package)(these semiconductor devices will be referred to simply as COF and TCP, hereinafter); semiconductor device; semiconductor module; and a manufacturing method for semiconductor device.
FIG. 15 is a plan view showing a conventional tape carrier 500 for COF semiconductor device (before mounting semiconductor element). FIG. 16 is a plan view showing a conventional COF semiconductor device.
FIG. 17 is a plan view showing a conventional tape carrier 600 for TCP semiconductor device (before mounting semiconductor element). FIG. 18 is a plan view showing a conventional TCP semiconductor device.
The following (a) to (d) are the differences between TCP and COF.
(a) A TCP includes an insulative tape 501 with an opening section 516 in a portion where a semiconductor element 521 is mounted, and the tips of the wire patterns 511 projected like cantilevers are bonded with a semiconductor element 521. A COF does not include an element-mounting opening section for mounting the semiconductor element 521, and the semiconductor element 521 is bonded/mounted onto the wire patterns 511 formed on the surface of the insulative tape 501 of a thin film.
(b) Because the wire patterns 511 of the TCP are projected like cantilevers, the thickness of each wire pattern 511 is set to 18 μm or greater, and therefore it is difficult to produce a wire patterns 511 with a wiring pitch smaller than 45 μm. Meanwhile, the COF uses wire patterns 511 formed on the surface of the insulative tape 501 which is a thin film, and it is possible to form wire patterns 511 with a thickness of equal to or less than 8 μm and a wiring pitch equal to or less than 35 μm.
(c) In the TCP, a slit 517 is formed in advance in a folding part to be folded after the device is mounted to a liquid crystal panel or the like. Meanwhile, the COF does not have a slit to be folded, and can be folded at anywhere on the insulative tape 501 of a thin film.
(d) The TCP has an insulative tape 501 made of polyimide on which a copper foil is laminated through an adhesive. Meanwhile, in the COF, polyimide or the like is applied on the rear surface of a copper foil and then the application layer is cured (casting technology), or by laminating copper on an insulative tape 501 of polyimide or the like by sputtering (metalization technology).
In consideration of its usage, the COF includes an insulative tape 501 of a thin film which can be freely folded, and each wire of the wire patterns 511 formed on the insulative tape 501 of thin film is conducted to a corresponding terminal of the semiconductor element 521. An external connection section 512 is conducted to a liquid crystal panel, a printed circuit-board or the like. The rest of wire pattern exposing section is coated with a solder resist 513 to have an insulative property. The solder resist 513 is not applied on a mounting region 515 where the semiconductor element 521 is mounted, and a solder resist opening section 514 is provided instead. After mounted to the mounting region 515 on the insulative tape 501 of a thin film, the semiconductor element 521 is sealed by a resin 522.
In both of the COF and TCP, the insulative tape 501 of a thin film often has openings for a carriage purpose at a 4.75 mm interval, which are called sprocket holes 502, and the tape pitch according to the outer shape of the product is designed to have a pitch of an integral multiple of the pitch of the sprocket holes 502. The tape is carried among the facilities of the production process on 1-pitch basis of the sprocket holes 502. As a result, the part corresponding to the outer dimension pitch (an integral multiple) of a product is carried for each manufacturing step (a step of processing/carrying a single device).
There is no published patent applications or documents of TCP regarded a prior art of a method for disposing products on the insulative tape 501 of a thin film and its manufacturing method including the carriage. The same art for COF is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open patent application Tokukai 2000-323533 (published on Nov. 24, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 3,558,921 registered on May 28, 2004, “Patent Document 1” hereinafter).
However, the described conventional semiconductor device tape carrier, manufacturing method for semiconductor device, semiconductor device, and semiconductor module device have a problem of an increase in material/processing cost and a decrease in manufacturing performance due to an increase in outer dimension of product size of COF or TCP and tape pitch.
In both of COF and TCP, the tape pitch according to the outer dimension of the product is generally designed to have a pitch of an integral multiple of the pitch of the sprocket holes 502, which is about 5 pitches on an average, though it depends on its usage. However, the outer dimension of the product rarely corresponds exactly to an integral multiple of the pitch of the sprocket holes 502 (5 pitch in average), and often includes an unformed region (unnecessary region) 503 which does not serve as a part of the product. As a result, there will be some wastes of material/processing cost and manufacturing performance.
For example, an unformed region (unnecessary region) corresponding to ½ pitch (half pitch) requires extra about 10% of material cost.
This problem can be solved by reduction in outer dimension of the product. The reduction in outer dimension of the product greatly depends on the outer shape/size or layout flexibility of wire patterns 511, and it raises an important and difficult problem of compatibility with the user specification. Therefore, there has been a significant difficulty in reduction in outer dimension.
In this view, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology for a layout of outer shape of the product so as to reduce the unformed region 503 of the tape carrier 700 which does not contribute to the fabrication of the product.
FIG. 19 is a plan view showing an example of the conventional technique of Patent Document 1.
The example of FIG. 19 shows a manufacturing method for a COF semiconductor device. The method of Patent Document 1 is applicable to a COF semiconductor device and a TCP semiconductor device. The following describes a case of a COF semiconductor device.
In the method of Patent Document 1 discloses a product in which a part of the outer shape including the external connection section 512 is protruded wherein two protruded parts are adjacently disposed. With this arrangement, the unnecessary region in the vicinity of the projection section can be reduced.
With this layout, the practical length of the tape carrier 700 is reduced.
The above example reduces the unformed region 503 by oppositely disposing the two external connection sections 512, thereby reducing the practical tape pitch of the tape carrier 700. However, such minimization in tape pitch of the tape carrier 700 by oppositely disposing the external connection sections 512 may not always useful for various COFs of different shapes, and each COF requires a change in disposition direction of the components on the tape carrier 700 according to its shape.
Moreover, since the products are oriented to plural different directions in the foregoing layout, the manufacturing is required to be carried out by switching the mounting directions of the respective components onto the tape carrier 700 according to the disposition direction of the COF. To meet this requirement, reduction in tape pitch of the tape carrier 700 and simplification of manufacturing process both need to be taken into account in the designing.